Upholstery



May 5, 1942.

G. R. cUNNlNs-rgbN UPHOLS TERY Filed Deo. 5, 1938 FlGye;

FIGB.

ATTORNEYS l Patented May 5, 1942 y UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE casein l I UPHOLSTERY Cnnnington, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., aasignor tov National Automotive Fibres. Inc., Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application December 5, 1938, Serial No. 244,029

` z calms. (ci. 154-54) Y The present invention relates to upholstery. l

George R.

and more particularly to stuffed pleated upholstery provided with decorative seams.

'Ihe novel upholstery disclosed in the present y application has wide utility, but for simplicity in disclosing the invention the upholstery material illustrated and described herein is particularly adapted for use in automotive vehicles. For example, the upholstery material'illustrated may be used for seat or back cushions in automotive vehicles. It will be understood that the upholstery material may cooperate with coil springs, leaf springs, or cushions and backs formed of various resilient materials, such for example as rubber. The upholstery material may also be employed in combination with panel elements if desired, the padding material imparting an exceptionally rich appearance thereto.

1n the past, it has been the practice to providev upholstery materialfor covering the seats and backs of automotive vehicles by interposing a layer of padding material, such as cotton, be

tween two fabrics. For this usejone of these fabrics was normally a backing or sheeting of inexpensive material, and the other fabric was an upholstery fabric of any desired character. It will be appreciated that in-certaln circumstances, such for example as where a cushion is to be employed in a m-anner which may expose either side thereof. that both fabrics may have a pleasing appearance.

' Originally upholstery of this nature was manufactured by providing pleat fullness in an upholstery material and stitching the upholstery material to a backing material along lines so as to form pipes intermediate 'the lines of stitching. These pipes were subsequently filled with padding material, such as cotton. by 'various methods'. Subsequently manufacture of such upholstery material was improved by the development of machines for simultaneously feeding padding material between continuously advancing sheets of fabric and stitching the sheets of fabric together along lines intermediate the padding material as applied. f

It has long been desirable to render the seams formed as attractive in appearance as possible,

v and various efforts were made to provide seams recognized, the lines or stitching tend to weaken the fabrics. This weakening of the fabrics is particularly noticeable in certain types of fabric which are otherwise well adapted for upholstering purposes, such for example as artificial leather or the like.

1 have foundghat it is possible to minufacimev upholstery material by interposing a strip'of uncured rubberous material between the sheets of fabric or other material along the lines of the proposed seams. It is 'then possible to vulcanize the two fabrics to the strip of rubberous material and thus provide a permanent bond therebetween. Extensive tests have revealed that this hond is permanent in use, even where the upholstery material is employed as a seat cushion and is subjected to constant destructive wear.

It is possible to provide this seam of substantial width, thus simultaneously increasing the strength of the bond and providing a relatively large area for decoration.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to provide as a new article of manufacture, up-

vide stued pleated upholstery material in which the seams intermediate the pleat fullness are formed by bonding together the fabrics without sewing. .It is a further object of my invention to provide a seam for uniting a pair of fabrics which is formed by astrip of vulcanized material.

It is aiurther object of my invention to provide a decorative seam between two fabrics, the seam being of substantial width, formed by vulcanizing the two fabrics together, and'characterized by a design in relief displayed in the surface of at least one of said fabrics.

It is a further object lof the invention to provide an interlockedA seam between two fabrics of particular configuration.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent as the description proceeds, and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in 1 whichadapted to be employed as a seat or back covering in an automotive vehicle;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section through one of the seams;

Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary top views of :decorative seams embodying the present invenion;

Fig. 5 is. a fragmentary section illustrating a somewhat different forni of seam;

'Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section through a some-` what "different `form of seam; and.

Figs. 7.and 8 are sectional views corresponding to the section a-a, Fig. 6, and illustrating two lspecically diiferent bonded seams.

In Fig. 1 /I have illustrated an upholstery as sembly generally indicated at III, which comprises a sheet of backing material II, a sheet of covering material or upholstery material I2, and

intermediate padding material I3. The padding material may be any resilient brous' material,

. or` other material having similar` characteristics,

and, by way of example, I have found that cotton forms an excellent material for this purpose.

As illustrated, the backing fabric II andth'e cover fabric I2 arer united along seams I4, the

arrangement being such that intermediate pipes(l yI5, filled with the padding material I3, are formed. Preferably pleat fullness is provided in padding'material I2 so that when the'backing It is desired to point out at this time the, wide difference between designs possible in the present cushions over those possible with previously known sewing operations. As will be evident,

' it is possible to form the so-called seams in the present cushion along straight lines, diagonal lines, irregular lines, curved lines, irregularly sinuously curved lines, and in fact the seams may be provided in any arrangement and with Iany desired decoration. i

y l, In Fig. 5 I have illustrated" a seam which differs "from that shown in Fig. 2 on1y Ain that the1ower sheeting II is formed upwardly, as indicated at 2|, into the bead provided in the upholstery ma-v fte'rial I2. As in the previous example, padding "material I3 fills the. pipe intermediate the seams material II is tensioned as indicated in Fig. 1,`

the fullness will appear as at I6 in the kupholstery material. The seams I 4, as best illustrated in the enlarged view of Fig. 2, are formed by providing a layer or ply of rubberous material I1- in'termediate the 'backing material II 'and upholstery material I2. Preferably the' rubberous material is inserted in an uncured conditionland is then deformedso as to provide a pleasing' ornamental design, such'as the beads I8.' This deformation`may be provided by applying heatfand lpressure through the mediumY of heated die members, the application ofheat and pressure being continued for asufcient period` to insure eflicient vulcanizati'on of "the rubberous lmaterial I1 in a manner to provide ap'ermanent Ybond between fabrics Itand I2.` f I havey found that -this operation ymay "be 'carried'out in such a mari'- ner as to provide a .bond,' whi`ch for all intents and purposes permanent and at the same time such that rubberous material will not substantially penetrate the cover fabric I2 or at least will not penetrate cover fabric .I2 to an'extent suilicient 'to discolor the forward or exposed face thereof.

As will be observed from Figure 2 and the other figures later to be described, the vulcanized rubber is in the` form cfa body of appreciable thickness, and the backing and cover fabrics .are vulcanized tov this body of vrubber at opposite surfaces thereof. The vulcanized bond thus provided between the cover fabric and the rubber,

and between the^backing fabricand the rubber,

'and comes up in close proximity to the vulcaniz'ed seam. yBy this construction a seam exhibiting a somewhat superior strength is provided.

In Fig.- 6I have illustrated a slightly different seam in which a single bead 22 is formed in the upholstery material I2, and the backing material or sheeting Il is-forced upwardly, as indicated at `23,^`into the bead. In this modification, the bead 22 is somewhat' reduced, as `rindicated at 2|-, to form what may be termed a neck portion.

- lInFigs. 7 and 8'I have illustratedslightly'dif- 'ferentlforms 'in which the neck portion 24" may be providedl'- In'Fig; 7 the neck portionV 24a,"corresponding to thewneck portion 24fillustrated in Fig, `6,'fmay be provided -with enlargedportions 25,`the' rubberous materia IIk beingformedby a suitable die process to provide the enlargements`25fand 'to form thel upholsteryfab'ri'c "I2 thereabzout.

The "backing .fabric I I formed upwardly into the lneck portion, 'as' seen' in Fig. 7. Thsparticula'r formationfof the neckr portion'A ofbead y22 shown in Fig. '6 provides -avrfs'ijii,ewh'at stronger bond between the upholstery fabric*and i` the backing material. Y l

'A similararrangement vshown in Fig. 8in which .a neck portion 2lb, corresponding to -the neck portion 24 .illustrated in vFigp,l isformed 'ina sinuous curve. In thismodiiication both thebacking material. or sheeting II. and the cover `fabric or= upholstery material I2 maybe deformed` into a sinuous curv'e and will be 1 permanently bo'nded vtogether by 'a'vulcanizjed rubberous material l1, y I. y

The -fregmg 'detailed description rias been glven for clearness vof understandingr only, and

is of substantial width in odento strengthen 5 the same. In addition, where the rubber and cover fabric are decorated to form a relief design, as indicated x n apparent that an increased -area of contact yis -provided between the rubber and the cover fabric, thus further increasing the total strength of the vulcanized bond therebetween.

fpr example in Figure 2, it will be In Fig. 3 `I have illustrated a fragmentary-.en- 4 'Y members 20. Itwill, of course, be" apparent that.

the Vdesign shown in Figs. i) and 4 are .merely illustrative and that'desgn's of any desired characteristics may be employed.v Y: Y

backing fabric, a pluralityj.of y ,wide strips of bulky ,padding/@material on said no Vunnecessary I -limitialtins vshouldv be" understood; therefrom; but thev appended claims should be construed as broadly as permissible 'in view "cfgthe prior art.'

' what I daim as my invetionfis; s't ied pleat, -"cushion rcomprising@ spaced.. relatively backing jfabr'ic, relatively-narrow, stripsof .soft

v curefr'sld rubber in the spaces between said strips ofv ,padding amateral. f a cover. f iabric ...oyerlying said ,strips of padding. material vand said strips of rubber, said backing fabric and said v.cover .fabric having. vulcanizedv bondsofgsubstantial width with saio Strips of rubber; whereby: to formpipesreceiving said strips ofpaddingmate.- rial, said covenfabric and.sai d,stripsf.of rubber b eing shaped intoa relief design providing in# VcreasedV area of contact therebetween. l 2A stuffed.. pleated. rcushioi,conrprisingfga backing fabric, a pluralityoffspaced, relatively wide strips' ofv padding materialien .said backing fabric and -said strips of padding material. strips of rubber located in the spaces between said strips oi' padding material, said cover fabric having inwardly concave iolds extending along said rubber strips, said rubber strips being received in said folds, said backing fabricihav- 5 and cover fabrics.

fabric, a cover fabric overlying said backingl n ing similar folds at least partly received in said ilrst mentioned folds, and embedded in said rubber strips, said rubber strips being vulcanized and having a vulcanized bond with said backing GEORGE R. CUNNINGTON'. 

